Things to do in London this weekend (August 15-16)

Cleansed starts with a syringe in the hand of the sloping, scruffy Tinker, some kind of malevolent authority figure in a psychiatric hospital-cum-prison-cum torture den, before said syringe is plunged into the eyeball of the willing Graham. It’s an infamous opening to an infamous play, steeped in the lore of its writer Sarah Kane, whose brutal and bleak dramas in the mid-Nineties redefined theatre and caused no end of controversy. You can read the sharp, shocking scenes as metaphors for Kane’s own time in a psychiatric hospital, for the nadirs of human nature that play out in war zones, for the dark dark places the human mind can go when suffering from adverse mental health. The idea is, though, that love persists, maybe, even when twisted and degraded.

Brand new for summer 2026, Magazine Open–Air is a series of outdoor shows, all backed by views of London’s skyline by the River Thames on the Greenwich Peninsula. The open-air fest from Broadwick Live aims to bring music outside, creating a roofless dancefloor framed by the surrounding cityscape. According to the creators, it’s “not a festival, but a series of carefully designed summer shows that bring music outside and closer to the city than ever before”. The series includes six curated shows, and on the bill this weekend are Our House with James Hype & Meduza, Josh Baker B2B with Max Dean, a 15-year celebration of The Soulection Experience. Expect top-notch production and a truly immersive urban experience. 

Zylia is the latest from former Kiln head chef and current co-owner of Singburi Nick Molyviatis and restaurateur Barry Karacostas. The former was raised in Athens and the latter is of Cypriot heritage; Zylia is their attempt to marry the two cuisines in a splashy central London location. Both nations are present in the bread basket, with grilled and oiled Cypriot bread and Greek pita puckered with oregano. Bouncy fried balls of Greek metsovone cheese are crunchy and glistening on the outside and stringy and pliable on the inside. A wild prawn saganaki sees juicy shrimps on a tangy tomato and tahini sauce. The main event is a perfectly pink pork chop, cooked on a charcoal grill. Zylia; an effortless new addition to Covent Garden’s coterie of great restaurants. With these guys in charge, it would be strange if it wasn’t.

US comic Patti Harrison is clearly a big fan of London: the high priestess of bizarre, sometimes even nauseatingly out there comedy is a regular visitor and appears to be forgoing a full-length Edinburgh Fringe run in favour of spending the first half of the festival in London. Which is great news for us! We wouldn’t even begin to hazard what Just Ironing Some Things Out is about and the official description – ‘a new HORRIBLE comedy show that will probably give you “DIARHEOAHA of THE MIND”’ – is as unhelpful as is fundamentally accurate. But expect it to be a mix of insane shit and insane shit involving guests and you’re probbaly halfway there.

Now You See Me Live is a stage-magic spectacular. The grungy, black-wearing aesthetic and branding of the core performers – that’s Enzo Weyne, Andrew Basso, Gabriella Lester and Matthew Pomeroy – as ‘the Horsemen’ serves to give it a more focused, less cheesy vibe than some of the multi-magician West End spectaculars. And they are top-class. At best, the magic on display here is jaw-dropping. There are three tricks that are astonishing. Plus, there’s a tribute to Harry Houdini from Basso that is utterly nerve-wracking to look. Go to have your mind blown by some top-flight magicians. 

Keen to see some live music this summer but disinclined to fork out hundreds on London festival tickets? King’s Cross’s Summer Sounds festival is the perfect solution. Coal Drops Yard is once again becoming the ultimate alfresco hangout this August for its free outdoor gig series. Visitors can catch an eclectic programme of gigs encompassing everything from classical and folk music to jazz and indie rock over the eleven-day festival. Highlights this year include chaotic Americana-indie band Little Grandad (Aug 14); a showcase marking 35 years of jazz development charity Tomorrow’s Warriors featuring Mercury Prize-nominated vocalist ESKA (Aug 16). You don’t even need to book, just show up 

Matthew Bourne’s sultry dance reinvention of Carmen has returned to Sadler’s Wells in all its sweaty, grimy glory after a decade off-stage. Set in the 1950s in the fictional town of Harmony – a midwestern Italian-American community where the residents appear to be permanently horny – The Car Man’s plot mashes up Bizet’s passionate opera (it uses the Rodion Shchedrin score with additional music by Terry Davies) with the erotic noir The Postman Always Rings Twice. Packed with Bourne’s trademark theatrics, a smattering of humour, and some unforgettable performances, The Car Man is one of the choreographer’s best works. Sitting through two hours of this spicy show might leave you feeling a bit overheated, but it will be worth it. 

This fest prides itself on bringing the food and music worlds together on an equal footing, so expect a stellar line-up on both fronts. Chefs will cook in an open fire kitchen in the round, ready for adoring fans to scrutinise their every move: the line-up includes Albert Smith (Smoking Goat), Elliot Hashtroudi (Camille), Holly Middleton Joseph (Hausu), and Suzie Bakos (The Little Sauce). The music side of the line-up includes performances from Children of Zeus, Bel Cobain, Tia Gordon, Catching Flies (with String Quartet), 2FOX, Josh Caffé, Flo Dill, NIKS, Ishmael Ensemble. Drinks aren't neglected either: you can swap underwhelming draught beers for delights from Black Wine Club, Dram, Hector's, and Salseo. Cheers to that!

The world’s first fully electric motorsport series returns to London this weekend for the final round of competition in the 2025/26 series. The single-seater series sees eleven top teams and 22 world-class drivers competing over a 2km indoor and outdoor circuit at the ExCeL Centre in the closing weekend of the twelfth championship. It’s set to be a nail-biting finale for the season, with two British drivers – reigning World Champ Oliver Rowland and former champion Jake Dennis – still in the race for the title. Each race day will feature a practice session and a qualifying round before the race kicks off at 3.05pm. Between sessions, take advantage of the Gaming Arena offering simulation racing experiences, a Kids’ Zone with face painting, plus the food court and live music from DJ Josh Baker (Saturday) and rapper AJ Tracey (Sunday). 

Alfresco swimming season has officially arrived. To celebrate, Royal Victoria Docks is opening its open-water lido daily over three weeks for Summer Splash. And while other open water swimming can often come with a price tag, this watery oasis is free to use throughout the event. The lifeguard-supervised swimming spot also features sandpits, deckchairs and sunsafe areas to relax in. Head along to lane swim with a backdrop of stunning city views or look out for a programme of family-friendly activities. 

Maximalist Italian restaurant group Big Mamma are behind a huge new summer food festival inspired by Italy’s Ferragosto celebrations in the heart of Shoreditch this weekend. In an effort to raise funds for the Felix Project and Shoreditch Trust’s Community Table, the people behind the ever-popular Gloria have teamed up with foodie friends including wine bar Passione Vino, chophouse chain Blacklock and Indian restaurant Kricket to stage a 300-person dinner party on the Museum of the Home’s front lawn. Guests can expect a welcome drink, free-flowing Italian wine and a four-course feast featuring the best-loved dishes from the hosts’ menus. There’ll also be live entertainment and a Tombola featuring prizes from loads more local legends. 

Dulwich Picture Gallery's big summer exhibition will be an intriguing contrast with the pastoral landscapes found in its permanent collection. Portrait of a City is all about American urban life, as documented by photographers between 1907 and 2012. It'll offer a fascinating insight into how big cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco grew from low-rise communities into towering assemblages of skyscrapers and multi-lane traffic. Photos from big names including Diane Arbus, Lewis Hine and Dorothea Lange will chart the faces and sights of cities in flux.

Electronic music will be returning to the Old Royal Naval College (a UNESCO World Heritage Site!) again this summer. Labyrinth On The Thames – masterminded by promoter Labyrinth – will see different artists from around the world take over the historic digs for six days of unmissable performances. Headliners this week are legendary producer and DJ Moby and British tech-house producer Michael Bibi. 

In 1971, Yorkshireman Roger Hargreaves was having dinner with his eight-year-old son when he asked, ‘What does a tickle look like?’ That was the question that led Hargreaves to invent Mr Tickle, the very first character in his now iconic Mr Men and Little Miss comic series. Fifty-five years later there are more than 90 characters. To pay tribute to them all and, in particular, to birthday boy Mr Tickle, Battersea Power Station is hosting a Mr Men Little Miss takeover. There’ll be workshops in which kids can create wooden characters or door plaques to take home, interactive storytelling sessions and a trail along which you can find hidden characters and unlock free gifts. Tickle himself may even make an appearance. 

The Royal Academy’s Richard Dadd: Beyond Bedlam, is the first major exhibition devoted to the often overlooked Victorian artist in more than 50 years. Dadd spent nearly a decade completing works like ‘The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke’ while confined to Bethlem Hospital—better known as Bedlam—after killing his father in a severe psychotic episode. In 1864, he was transferred to the newly opened Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he remained until his death in 1886. The exhibition, however, doesn’t begin there. Instead, it returns to Dadd’s days as a student at the Royal Academy Schools, just across from where this exhibition hangs today. While there, he became a founding member of one of Britain’s OG artistic cliques and developed his lifelong fascination with fairies, creating magical, delicate, yet dark works crammed with naughty faces and gossamer dresses. Together, these works remind us that, although Dadd’s body was confined, his imagination never was.

If you’re a mother, do you get to be a person too? A separated woman who comes out as a lesbian is torn between motherhood and selfhood, duty and freedom, in Anna Cazenave Cambet’s brutal custody drama. Love Me Tender is based on the bestselling novel by Constance Debré and inspired by Debré’s own life. Vicky Krieps plays Clémence, a make-up free, short-haired, scooter-riding ex-lawyer. Clémence has left her highly paid legal job to become a writer. She has an amicable relationship with her ex-husband Laurent and the pair share joint custody of their eight-year-old son Paul. But when Clémence tells Laurent she now dates women, he files for sole custody. What ensues is a bitter, years-long custody battle fueled by Laurent’s infuriating and borderline evil determination to take Paul away from Clémence entirely. Krieps’ superb performance expertly portrays the impossible, maddening ways society wants to define her. It’s completely compelling. 

Things are getting tropical in Croydon. The rooftop of Centrale’s multi-storey car park has been filled with sand, beach huts and a water splash zone to create London’s latest summer hangout. There’s more than sunbathing on offer, though. While the day time will be family-focused, this year the south London spot has launched a new ‘Beach Club’ series on Thursday evenings in August for adults-only. Each week will feature a different theme, from garage DJ nights, drag-hosted lip sync battles and pre-carnival dancehall acts to sip & paint sessions and music bingo, with all the line-ups celebrating South London talent. There’ll also be slap-up street food and drinks. 

You don’t have to venture all the way up to Edinburgh for a cracking dose of comedy in August. Every year, The Roundhouse curates a line-up full of the biggest stars on the circuit. Across 18 days this year, you can expect gigs from the likes of Joe Lycett, Ed Gamble, Katherine Ryan, Sam Campbell, Ed Gamble, Sara Pascoe and Vittorio Angelone. Beyond the stand-ups, there’ll be live podcast recordings, theatrical comedy and interactive shows to watch too.

It’s not hard to see why American musical theatre powerhouse Ben Platt was attracted to the British debut of Mark Sonnenblick’s 2018 off-Broadway show. A two-hander, it’s a great vehicle for his talents as a singer and actor. But there’s more to this funny, sad and wistful piece – directed here by David Cromer. It’s New York, 1965, and Platt is Trevor, the singing half of a performing and romantic duo, alongside songwriter Arthur (Gregor Milne). It’s an era when being gay is a threat to life and livelihood. We are Trevor’s audience in smoky Greenwich Village club the Never Get as he tells – and sings – the story of their turbulent relationship and contrasting careers. He’s simultaneously charismatic and achingly vulnerable, sending a gorgeous shiver through every song or landing a wisecrack with a practised twinkle.

Can you believe we’re somehow on the fifth instalment of beloved movie series Toy Story? Well, if you're a superfan (or a clued up kid) you'll probably already be well on top of this development. So take your love of Woody, Buzz and the gang to the next level with free pop-up Bonnie’s Playtime at Westfield White City during the summer holidays

Bonnie can't remember where she's hidden her toys, and kids are invited to track them down, on a fun digital rescue mission. Head to The Disney Store and you'll also find Toy Story 5-themed area The Ranch, with crafts and products to sample and play. 

Canada Water’s dockside is going to be packed with (free!) cultural goings-on for six weeks this summer. As part of the new Round the Dock festival, there’s something going on every single day. Get down to the docks on a Tuesday evening and you’ll get to enjoy a spoken work and live music session from Spit Nights Poetry. On Wednesdays, feed your curiosity at a talk from pub lecture series Pints of Knowledge or on Thursdays perfect your steps at the salsa nights with Timba Britanica. South London Afro-punk collection Steam Down has curated a programme of acts to take over the floating stage every Friday while each Saturday and Sunday will see live jazz and soul performances from the likes of Mark Kavuma, Sophie Faith and Soul Sanctuary Gospel. That’s all on top of dozens of food stalls, loads of family-friendly workshops, a programme of outdoor film screenings and rotating flea markets and craft fairs. 

The world’s oldest psychiatric hospital, Bethlem Royal Hospital, often referred to as Bedlam, looked after several famous patients, including Victorian painter Richard Dadd. Dadd, a former Royal Academy of Schools student and established painter, suffered from delusions whilst on a Middle Eastern tour in 1843, believing the Egyptian god Osiris was influencing him. On his return home, Dadd, convinced his father was the devil, ended up killing him with a knife before fleeing to France. First detained at Bethlem and later moved to Broadmoor Hospital, where he died, he produced some of his most celebrated works, like ‘The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke' whilst incarcerated. This survey exhibition includes more than 100 works, including rarely seen sketches and paintings and a series of watercolours made on his eastern travels. 

Homer’s The Odyssey first engaged Christopher Nolan when he was attached to direct Troy, 20-odd years ago, and he’s been stealth-adapting Western literature’s foundational text ever since. Interstellar puts a time-bending spin on the story of a man trying to make it home; Inception is about trauma and homecoming; and The Dark Knight Rises sends Batman into the underworld to find his way home. So maybe The Odyssey has been the British filmmaker’s real odyssey all along. It’s a movie he could only make at this point in his career, with the full array of tools and treasure at his disposal. It’s definitely Nolan at his most formidable. The ending, one of his very best. The thunderous near-three-hours of storm-tossed seas, clashing steel, vengeful dei ex machina, awe-inspiring monsters, and Oscar-bound A-listers takes unpacking and a second viewing will bring some of the themes and textures into sharper relief. Appreciation will only grow for Ludwig Göransson’s extraordinary expressionist score, the apocalyptic glow of van Hoytema’s nocturnal lighting, and Ellen Mirojnick’s opulent costumes. The results are mythical. 

Director Simon Stone’s expansive adaptation of the Greek legend The Oresteia is trashy as hell and yet relentlessly gripping, its three-and-a-half hours whizzing by. The original story starts with one of the most infamous murders in myth, as Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter Iphigenia to the gods in order to allow the vengeful Greeks to sail to Troy. Here, a non-linear structure maximises shock value in a way that clearly takes a leaf or two from the world of true crime podcasts. It’s Greek myth gone Saltburn, and incredibly fun. 

Battersea Power Station is adding a free summer funfair to its entertainment offering. Electric Summer is an entire seaside town’s worth of things crammed onto a Thames-side patch of concrete. The centrepiece is a full roller rink with sessions ranging from wobbly first-timers to Thursday date nights. Out on the jetty, pétanque courts turn the riverside into a passable stand-in for the south of France, river views included. There’s also a big wheel for skyline views, dodgems, a wave swinger and boardwalk games including Lobster Pot and Blockbuster.

Another year, another spectacular line-up of classical music. This year, the orchestral extravaganza will feature 86 concerts across eight weeks, with over 3,000 artists taking to the stage, with the majority of the action taking place inside the grand surroundings of London’s Royal Albert Hall. There'll be the chance to hear visiting ensembles from all over the world, including The Met Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Mahler Academy Orchestra and the Spanish National Orchestra, as well as innumerable concerts and recitals from the classical music world's biggest stars. This weekend, look out for a celebration af Marvyn Gaye, and Sir Antonio Pappano conducting the London Symphony Orchestra in Berlioz’s Requiem. 

With admirable chutzpah, London’s latest immersive exhibition offers not just a focus on a single event, but a journey through the entire history of human civilisation. Well, ‘entire’ is a bit much: rather than focus on heavily documented eras of humanity, Timewalk – a creation of the DEM Museums in Türkiye – is dedicated to using immersive tech to plunge you into a succession of semi-mythical ancient civilisations. Starting at Göbeklitepe in Türkiye – widely recognised as the world’s earliest communal gathering site – its various rooms will take you onward to Babylon, Ancient Egypt, the Maya, and Rapa Nui and more, with the idea being to present these vanished societies not as dusty relics but as living, breathing recreations of how they might have been.

After pulling in millions of visitors in Amsterdam and Barcelona, Moco Museum London has landed beside Marble Arch with a three-floor showcase of modern, contemporary and immersive art. Inside, you’ll find more than 100 works from names including Banksy, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Yayoi Kusama, alongside immersive digital rooms and sensory installations designed to pull you into the artwork. There’s also the limited-run exhibition ‘Voice of the Street’, dedicated to Haring’s legendary New York subway drawings from the early 1980s. Flex-entry tickets start from £15, so you can drop in whenever suits during opening hours.

Get over 40% off tickets, only through Time Out Offers

Popping up each summer on the steps where the Regent’s Canal passes Granary Square, Everyman’s Screen on the Canal is one of the city’s best loved outdoor cinemas, thanks to its atmospheric setting, eclectic programming and the fact that it doesn’t cost viewers a penny. Pop down on a sunny afternoon to catch live coverage from Wimbledon every day of the tournament, plus the usual mix of live sports, classic movies, family-friendly flicks and recent hits.